Jeb: ‘Donald Trump Is Not Going to Get the Nomination’

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Republican presidential candidate former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) said his opponent Donald Trump’s “message of division” is not what country needs.

Bush said, “Donald Trump is not going to get the nomination. I have enough confidence in the Republican primary voters in these early states and beyond. I’ll trust them to make that decision. I know for a fact that a conservative is not going to win unless they have a hopeful and optimistic message. So, I’m sticking to my guns on that. That’s who I am. You need to be authentic when you run. I believe we’re on the greatest time to be alive. but we have to fix these really big complex things that people are deeply and correctly frustrated by in Washington, D.C.”

Host George Stephanopoulos said, “It seems like Donald Trump is succeeding right now, at least, with the darker tone.”

Bush responded, “He’s succeeding right now, for sure. He’s a gifted politician, but he’s not a serious candidate. He’s not offered anything serious as it relates to terrorism. But he’s a gifted politician. He connects with people’s angst and their anger. But over the long haul we need to have productive, constructive ideas to lift people up.”

He continued, “He’s just a gifted politician that’s appealing to people’s anger and frustration that’s quite legitimate. Listen, Washington is broken. The good news is, I have a proven record in Tallahassee to disrupt the old order there. I can tell that story and I do it each and every day. And it’s working.”

Stephanopoulos said, “Donald Trump is also making some of your biggest supporters quite angry. Mike Fernandez, biggest single person to your Super Pac —he’s taken out full-page ads right now, where he compares Trump suggests that he’s like Mussolini and Hitler. Is that appropriate?”

Bush said, “No, I don’t. I think people are going to see that Donald Trump isn’t a serious candidate. His message of division is not what we need. We have had a president that has not been a commander-in-chief, he’s been a divider-in-chief. Our side doesn’t need to mimic that.”